Thread: 41 Willys Gasser project

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I was sat in the drivers seat the other night and realised i couldn't reach the dash when strapped in, I needed the important switches closer to me.
I solved this with a glassfibre box which was moulded off a washing sachet container.
I aim to mount this with some stainless tube between the seats and run the wiring through the tube so its hidden.
I thought a nice finned top plate to hold the switches might be nice, thickest bit of aluminium plate i had was 1/2" so a quick call to my mate Allan and he had some 3/4", He also kindly offered to mill the slots in it to save me some time.

First the 3/4" aluminium plate was cut.








Next it was marked out and drilled and counterbored.








Next the grooves were ball milled into the plate.








Next to get sloping sides on the fins the plate was tilted at 14 degrees and the sides of the fins got a pass with the cutter.








What we ended up with.








Next the shape was marked out and the excess cut off.










The ends of the fins were then curved.








Next job was to remove all the sharp edges and replace with nice radius's and give it a quick polish to see how it looked.







The original switch knobs were not gonna cut the mustard so new ones were made from some 1" stainless round bar.













:cheers:

Simply amazing Steve what you and your good friend Allan can turn out. As Steve in the USA said, that damn bar is so high now, I could hang myself from it !!!!

Yep, old Steve could teach us all a few tricks. I love the olds finned valve cover look. Been trying to find valve covers like that for my 460 ford~!

I'm getting alot of ideas from your posts.
Nice knobs and plate.

This is my method on how to keep a painted finish on headers.

Basically the painted finish (using hi-temp paint) has to be baked and most of the time the
oven is too small.

Step 1 - Remove headers from vehicle, strip finish off headers and clean thoroughly. Remove
any grease or oil.

Step 2 - Paint headers with a name brand high temperature paint such as VHT.

Step 3 - Reinstall headers, be careful as not to get any grease, oil or dirt on painted surfaces.

Step 4 - Fire up the motor, run it for about 1 to 2 minutes.

Step 5 - Let headers cool.

Step 6 - Repeat steps 4 and 5 four to six times. The more the better.

The key points are;
Headers must be absolutely clean before painting.
Painted surfaces must be clean before the baking process.
Do not let the headers get too hot while baking.

To maintain your newly painted headers keep them clean, use soap and water (while cool).
The paint job can be touched up but the new paint has to be also baked.

Old Steve !!! ya cheeky bugger Just kidding Steve, I guess i am old these days

Originally Posted by stovens

Yep, old Steve could teach us all a few tricks. I love the olds finned valve cover look. Been trying to find valve covers like that for my 460 ford~!

Thanks Whip, fairly simple stuff really, you just have to let your mind wander.

Originally Posted by Whiplash23T

Simply amazing Steve what you and your good friend Allan can turn out. As Steve in the USA said, that damn bar is so high now, I could hang myself from it !!!!

Had to go to the tyre place to get a customers tyres fitted and Crumble had got my tubes for me (thanks John) plus I had been itching to get my Radir tyres on my ET rims.

I had a slight clearence problem on the inner arch as these tyres bulge out a fair bit so I replaced the wheel studs with some longer Strange Eng studs and fitted a 1" spacer either side. I don't have a problem running spacers.

I'm still undecided about the whitewalls, I may turn them around.










Had to cut a fair bit out of the rear arches to get them on and they still need blending & fettling which i will sort at bodywork time. Its got a bit more attitude now.

white walls in

Steve no offense intended, just a complement to your vast knowledge base! The white walls look very cool, and go well with everything else. I may run into a similar issue with my rear tires and fenders, so the spacer idea sounds good to me if it would work on the rear hubs of my old Ford.

I'm a fan of white walls but the jury is out on this one until I see the complete project after paint etc.,as I know that old gasser look will not be correct with white walls but it may suit your finished car. I so want those wheels though,awesome.

I suppose the wide whites fit the style of the car, but personally I didn't like them the first time they were popular......

Steve,
That switch panel you and Alan made looks great (more like fantastic)

You know I think I like the whitewall slicks.....Will know better when your color is sprayed on the car though. Lookin great. Awesome progress
Don Jr.

Whip imagine this but with blue flake.

Originally Posted by Whiplash23T

I'm a fan of white walls but the jury is out on this one until I see the complete project after paint etc.,as I know that old gasser look will not be correct with white walls but it may suit your finished car. I so want those wheels though,awesome.

Cheers Don, yes i'm gonna wait until the paint is done and decide then, I kinda like the whitewalls too.
Is the old fella ok as havn't seen him on here for a couple of days ???

Originally Posted by Mr Blue

Steve,
That switch panel you and Alan made looks great (more like fantastic)

You know I think I like the whitewall slicks.....Will know better when your color is sprayed on the car though. Lookin great. Awesome progress
Don Jr.